These photographs are of Test Pilots,Engineers,and various research and production aircraft flown on test flights mostly from the late 1940's through to the present day.
Most of these have been kindly signed by those depicted

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

LtCol Frank Murray 1930- 'Dutch 20'

Frank Murray was born 21 September 1930, an Army brat of
William and Agnes Murray. Raised in San Diego, California, Frank
graduated from St. Augustine High School class of 1948. In August 1948,
he enlisted in the USAF, the military branch in which his two older
brothers were serving. Advanced to the rank of corporal after attending
A&E Mechanics School, Murray was later promoted to sergeant and
subsequently accepted in the Aviation Cadet Flying Training Program.

In
April 1952, he commenced training at Columbus AFB, Mississipi and Laredo
AFB, Texas. Graduating with Class 53-C, Murray was commissioned a
second lieutenant and transferred to Laughlin AFB and Luke AFB for
Gunnery School in the T-33 and F-84B. Murray's first fighter plane
assignment was the F-84G and F-86-F at Chaumont, France. Assigned to
Bergstrom AFB, Texas, Murray flew the F-84F and F-101A/C. From there,
Murray was assigned to Otis AFB, Mass to fly the F-94C and F-101B. In
1963, Murray was
selected for the 1129th Special Activity Squadron at Groom Lake where
he flew the F-101, T-33, and Cessna 180/210.

At Groom Lake, Murray was
later selected by the CIA to be a Project Pilot flying the A-12.
Resigning his USAF commission to take this new assignment, Murray stayed
with the OXCART Project until it shutdown in 1968. Rejoining the USAF,
Murray was assigned to Tyndall AFB, Florida where he flew the F-101 and
T-33 until his volunteering for training in the A-1 Skyraider at the
56th Special Operations Wing, 1st Special Operations Squadron (Hobos) at
Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand. Murray flew 67 combat missions in the
A-1 before being reassigned to Tyndall, AFB to continue flying the
F-101. During his flying career, Murray accumulated 6,000 hours of
flying military aircraft and another 1,000 hours flying civilian planes.Murray retired from the USAF a Lt. Col. with 29 years
combined service in the U.S. Air Force and CIA.